Contrail Requirements Keep Canadians On E.i

[Skidmark]

Bladethrow, I may have been a little harsh, I'm sorry. But one quick question, If there was a perfect job or profession, wouldn't everyone be doing it? Everyone has had abuse in the industry I'm sure. For myself though, I'm in as long as the days where I can't believe I'm getting paid for this keep out numbering the bad ones.

 

Albert Ross, Thats great news and a great value to the industry. An approved training program would be good. As discussed before on these pages, 100 hrs is not enough and new pilots need an "operational edge" before entering the field.

 

For the 1500 hr requirement. I'm sure there is a requirement with some companies for 1500 hrs to fly passengers. I did a few months work a few years ago with a company looking for 1500+ total time and a 1000+ turbine time to fly passengers in a 206 around the patch. That came out of one of Contails manuals.

 

Now, the Kiwi/Aussie topic has been beat to **** in these pages. All it is doing is making negative attitudes and difficult to work with eachother. Maybe we should let it rest.

 

SM

[bladethrow]

The matter of foriegners taking opportunities away from perfectly capable Canadians will not rest, but be sure its not the pilot(s) who I hold accountable its the companies who extend the invitation when there are Canucks avialable.

 

:down:

[Harmonic_Vibe]

This is an interesting argument because there's a few different issues that are sort of tied together. I think it's completely true that the 1500 hour requirement is ridiculous for lease-to-lease type flying and that it would be (and is) very hard to get a Canadian pilot with that much time to want to spend a summer in Helmet or a similar place.

 

A foreign pilot wanting to break into the Canadian market is then provided with an opportunity because he may meet the hourly requirements and if no citizens are found to fill a posted position there are allowances to hire foreigners. While this is painful for a low-time Canadian pilot looking for a job, it's kind of the way the whole world works. I have worked in close to ten countries because there were no locals that could do what I do (or so the story goes).

 

Do the new guys up and coming in Canada never want to work outside the country? Because if you do then you'll be doing exactly what these Aussies and Kiwis are doing here. I for one would love to work in NZ or Oz and would feel pretty bad if I was treated like I was some kind of intruder. Everyone struggles when they're getting started and I refuse to blame somebody else in the same position as me (a pilot who only wants to fly) for the problems in the business. If the Safety Consultants would focus on an individual company's training program (what they REALLY do... not what their Ops Manual SAYS they do) I think that a skilled 500 hour pilot would be able to do anything in the patch with a high degree of safety.

 

The amount of hours someone has is really just a record of where one's been and how long one's been flying. There is very little correlation between total hours and "competency" in all the myriad tasks a helicopter can accomplish. I know guys that can bucket in a medium like poetry in motion but can't longline to save their life. I also know guys who are magic on the end of a 150 foot line who can't land in a football field and "blame" it on the flight regime in which they work.

 

To be competent and, more importantly, safe, one has to have proper training and also needs to be current. Some people can leave a job for a year and walk right back into it while the rest of us poor feebs need reaquaintance with the job after a five day reset. It's a function of the differences in every individual.

 

The task of a company's training department is to establish the level an individual is at with regard to competency, and then to provide the necessary training to meet the standard (which is, of course, flexible and changes with every company). I have always hated the phrase "he only needs an hour"... which is the minimum time required on type by TC (this may have changed now... I'm not really up on the Canadian requirements right now). When I was a training pilot I flew with guys that needed no training whatsoever and, in fact, we should have switched seats. I have also flown with guys who, although their logbooks claimed thousands of hours, were barely able to perform to a minimum standard. Many companies treat both these pilots the same... giving them the minimum legislated time to meet the regulatory requirements. Needless to say, this is not going to save money in the longterm but will result in incidents and accidents that could have been prevented.

 

I have also worked for companies that spend the whole time shooting autorotations which, while fun, are often "planning for an earthquake while the house is on fire". I honestly believe that if no one ever did another auto, hovering auto, pedal jam, or the like, and instead concentrated on operational flying (bush stuff like confined areas and log pads on sidehills) the accident/incident rate would drop in this country. I am not advocating stopping emergency training, I'm simply expressing my opinion on the lack of operational flying during spring recurrent.

 

So... I'm not offering any solutions except to say that I will treat every pilot I run into with the same courtesy that I would like to have returned to me. I don't care if the guy (or gal) has 100 hours, 10000 hours, an accent that is barely understandable (although I might say "What?" a lot) or flies for my company's archrival competitor. We're all in the same boat figuratively and literally.

 

As for the safety consultants and their too-stringent requirements... It seems to me that someone could start a company and offer a little competition in that field... Phil? I bet the money is great...

 

HV

[Rosco]

Very eloquently said HV.

[donut king]

Hello gents and ladies! Just come over from the defunct Onevoice!

 

As for this thread, we cannot really blame anyone for seeking out employment....wherever that may be. I myself work overseas offshore and by some guys' rationale, am stealing work from the local country's aviators. I bet not many fellow offshore international guys would see it that way.

 

As for Canada, BLAME the companies themselves for the hiring practises AND BLAME YOURSELVES/ MYSELF!!!! We allow our employers to get away with this unethical stuff, ***** and complain, but at the end of the day.....REALLY DO NOTHING about it. Just look at what happened to Onevoice.

 

Now to be fair, take a close look at the CHL ambulance pilots. I am very surprised and impressed that they have banded together and unionized.

 

Blaming foreigners is a common excuse (in general) for the woes of the locals. Before everyone jumps on me, I am only suggesting for us to take an introspective look and really understand where the problems lie.

 

D.K.

[cap]

Well folks, then here's an update to really get you going on this subject..........several of the companies in the gas fields now want to raise those qualifications that we are talking about and already consider ridiculous. They now are considering seriously raising that bar to 2000hrs total time and a possible increase from 500 on type to something higher. ALL upon the reccomendation of guess who? Chew on that for awhile.

[67november]

HV nail on head :up:

 

nicely said :up:

[Vermouth]

The matter of foriegners taking opportunities away from perfectly capable Canadians will not rest, but be sure its not the pilot(s) who I hold accountable its the companies who extend the invitation when there are Canucks avialable.

 

:down:

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Lets not forget to lay some blame on the rich... I mean right shoulders. Contrail has put many of our companies into this position.... and making some serious cake while doing so. What should be done?

 

V

[Vermouth]

Cap

Is your information from a reliable source? Is he/she dyslexic?

 

HV

Bingo!

 

DK

Political ambitions?

[bladethrow]

HV:

 

 

Some clairification. you quoted.

 

"A foreign pilot wanting to break into the Canadian market is then provided with an opportunity because he may meet the hourly requirements and if no citizens are found to fill a posted position there are allowances to hire foreigners. While this is painful for a low-time Canadian pilot looking for a job, it's kind of the way the whole world works. I have worked in close to ten countries because there were no locals that could do what I do (or so the story goes)"

 

The companies are not looking hard enough or at all! There are many 500-1000-3000 hour pilots that are available and capable of doing the job. I't all BS that there are no Canadians available. The main reason why companies are not hiring these Canadian folks first can be for a number of reasons, including old grudges, the rumour mill, presonailty conflicts,or maybe the pilot is just asking for a proper paying job with no shifty employment seasonal- parttime- fulltime pseudo contratcs,so give it to a foriegner. Foriegners are cheaper, will be pushed around and theres no requirement for a long term commitment.

 

Last year I applied to a company looking for a 1500 hour pilot, I had double the time, am Canadian, can run a line and get along great with customers. So a Aussie was invited back for the seat on a yet another holiday permit. WHAT A F'n PISS OFF!

 

So excuse me , but to say that all the good little angel companies are hiring Canadians first or even looking is a load of crap. There is lots of abuse of the system. AeS,WC, HH ,and some of the big players are all guilty of frigging the system.

 

It's got to stop! For the sake of both High, Medium, and low time Canadian Pilots.

 

The whole thing just makes me sick!

 

:shock: